Very good movie

Rating: 8/10 (24 July 2005)

Whoa! This movie made my Sunday evening, and weekend as a whole. I mean, it's not a magnum opus, maybe a little creepy when you come to think of the concept - but the characterization and acting by the leads was just brilliant! Everything was so well crafted that you will exit from the movie theater with a smile. Unless you're weirder than weird, of course.
While watching the movie, so many questions arose - Why a Scotsman (McGregor) is made to speak with an American accent? Why is he paired with a lady (Johannsen) 10 years younger to him. Guess what - even these silliest of answers get answered in the end!
PROLOGUE: This is not a SPOILER. It's an explanation of how things are before the time-line of the movie begins.
The setting is 2019. People have gotten richer, of course technology has advanced drastically, and the concept of cloning does exist. Noted celebrities, politicians, sports-persons desire to live a longer life and a career no matter what has to be done. Thus, there are clones created in a remote institute in Arizona run by an English scientist ,Merrick. Merrick and his staff basically take a complete scan of the client (called the "investor") and a clone of the same investor is created with the same physical and anatomical, yet closer to perfect, features. However, these clones, or "insurance policies" as they are called, are bred to only be killed eventually for their spare parts - lungs, heart, you name it, to be taken away and given to the investor to live longer. Until their termination time, they are fed on a very strict diet, and are only educated up to the level of a 15 year old.
The clones are kept content in their inner lives by being told they were brought to the institute because they were "contaminated" in the real world and were getting cured from the same. They were also promised a lottery where a winner gets to go to the "Island" - where a new world is set to begin, new breeding, no pollution, etc.
This is until a flaw occurs in the habilitation process and one product, Lincoln has questions....
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Ewan McGregor and Scarlett Johannsen were absolutely brilliant in their acting and carried the movie from beginning to the end. I was slightly disappointed when I saw the trailer earlier, and it implied that Scarlett was becoming a blonde bimbo of Hollywood - but I was wrong. She not only had a role to play, but played it well. Hope she becomes the next Hollywood superstar as she is a truly good actress, and charming in her own way.
McGregor, on the other hand, carries his post-Star_Wars grace very well, and should be looking for some really dramatic and challenging roles in the near future to get an Oscar or some awards. He is a good actor, and is definitely no James Bond material - too down to earth as an actor (maybe not as a person) to play the cocky British spy.
The supporting cast - Michael Clarke Duncan only had a few lines to spare and was a cry baby, but an OK role done. Djimon Honsou - Hollywood's only "African" actor played his role well and gracefully.
Steve Buscemi is what one could call a struggling actor. I respect him for trying something new like playing a confused ex-con on a full season of the SOPRANOS - showed his less-comedy side which he portrays in Adam Sandler movies. In the Island, he did sort of fit the role of a crazy techie, but he needs to find something that will bring his recognition back up.
Sean Bean, the smooth talking, English villain who played a James Bond baddie too early in his career, also carried his vicious role well. Would have been more appropriate to see an American Southerner play the role of the institute's head-honcho as it was set in Arizona.
Overall I gave the movie 8/10. I prefer it to Minority Report, and thank God it was not too hyped!